Lil' Wayne needs to watch his back because someone is coming for his No. 1 spot.

See, freestyle battle rapping is as old as the genre of hip-hop itself.

Whether it was Kool Mo Dee versus LL Cool J back, Nas versus Jay-Z (who are now, as the kids say "tight") or 50 Cent versus any rapper ... rap battles are as American as apple pie. However, when hip-hop and hoops cross paths, that's when it gets interesting.

Enter stage left, Shaquille O'Neal.

The Big Cactus recently took to the stage of a New York night club and spit some hot fire in the direction at former teammate and mortal enemy Kobe Bryant in the feud that will seemingly never end.

Is that a good thing? For people like me, yes, it is. It gives us something to write about. Something to shoot in an e-mail to your co-workers or others you may know who are trapped in the cubicle in search of something that will make their day. And it gives me the opportunity to splice two of my favorite things: sports and hip-hop.